Putin’s Nightmare Weapon Ukraine Can’t Stop [VIDEO]

In 2025 alone, Russia deployed over 54,000 Shahed/Geran-type drones, with peaks like the record September 7 attack involving 810 such UAVs, repeatedly striking power plants, substations, combined heat and power facilities, and transmission networks across regions including Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odesa, Dnipro, Vinnytsia, and Zaporizhzhia.

These low-cost, long-range kamikaze drones, frequently upgraded with heavier 90-100 kg warheads (including thermobaric or tandem configurations), cause widespread blackouts, heating disruptions during freezing winters, and civilian casualties—such as a February 2026 strike in Bohodukhiv, Kharkiv region, that killed a father and three young children while injuring their pregnant mother.

By saturating defenses with decoy Gerbera variants or using drones as “motherships” for smaller FPVs, Russia forces Ukraine into resource-intensive intercepts (downing roughly 80-90% but allowing impacts that degrade grids and logistics), turning the Geran into a relentless tool for strategic attrition and terror against civilian and military rear areas deep inside Ukrainian territory.

The Russian Geran UAV War Drone

The Russian Geran UAV, specifically the Geran-2 (Герань-2), is the Russian version of the Iranian-designed HESA Shahed-136, a low-cost, long-range one-way attack drone widely used as a loitering munition or kamikaze drone.

The Russian Geran-2 UAV has been a primary weapon in Russia’s sustained campaign against Ukraine since late 2022, launching in massive swarms—often hundreds per night—combined with missiles to overwhelm air defenses and target critical infrastructure, particularly the energy sector.

Nicknamed the “poor man’s cruise missile” due to its affordability (estimated $20,000–$50,000 per unit) and mass-production in facilities like Alabuga, the Geran-2 has become a cornerstone of Russian drone warfare, with ongoing upgrades including improved jamming-resistant navigation, real-time data links, and experimental features like terminal guidance or even air-to-air adaptations, while Russia continues to develop faster jet-powered derivatives in the Geran series.

The “Geran” UAV will get upgraded to an internal-combustion engine made entirely from Russian-sourced components, a source at RVNP says.

“Adopting new technologies and working closely with Russian contractor companies has gotten us to near 100% localization of production—both the airframe and the powerplant. While the airframe in several variants was mastered back in 2024, the ICE was finalized at the end of 2025. Today, the engines are being mass-produced at one of our Siberian contractor plants. Thanks to original design solutions, we’ve achieved better fuel efficiency, which has increased the drone’s range and operating altitude compared to foreign counterparts. Current output is 1,000 units per month, with the ability to ramp up significantly as early as the first quarter of this year,”

Russia Shows Inside Secret Geran 2 UAV Drone Factory

The Russian Military has released a video showing the secret Geran 2 UAV drone factory.

Featuring a distinctive delta-wing configuration, the Geran-2 measures approximately 3.5 meters in length with a 2.5-meter wingspan, weighs around 200 kg, and is powered by a piston engine (such as the MD-550 or equivalents) that propels it at speeds of about 185 km/h.

It carries a warhead typically weighing 50 kg—though Russian variants have evolved to include heavier payloads up to 90-100 kg with high-explosive, thermobaric, or tandem configurations—and boasts a reported operational range exceeding 1,000–2,000 km, enabling deep strikes often targeting Ukrainian infrastructure during the ongoing conflict.